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Data Sources: International

Government Statistical Agencies

Also check out the List of International Statistical Agencies.

  • Brazil
    Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
  • Canada
    Statistics Canada
  • China
    National Bureau of Statistics. For more data on China see the subscription database "Chine Data Center" listed in the box below.
  • India
    Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
  • Mexico
    National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics
  • Russia
    Russian State Committee for Statistics 
  • South Africa
    Statistics South Africa

Country and Region Specific Sources

  • Eurostat  
    Website of the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Provides access to download predefined tables and data covering key EU policies. PDF access to Eurostat Yearbook and other statistical compendiums.
  • OECD Regional Explorer
    Includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies. Also a good source for demographic, immigration, and health data.
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
    Provides free on-line data on their 56 member countries in Europe, Central Asia and North America. Includes data on education, health, transportation, natural resources, and crime.

Where to Start

The World Bank's WDI database provides direct access to more than 900 development indicators, with time series for 210 countries from 1960 to present (where data are available). For more publicly available data, check out the World Banks open-data initiative.

  • World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance
    The Indicators are organized into 10 categories that include economic policy and debt, education, environment, financial sector, health, infrastructure, labor and social protection, poverty, private sector and trade, and public sector.

Key International Sources

The international organizations and sources listed here provide comprehensive statistics on many topics and for many countries (look for publications, interactive tools and downloadable files).  When looking for data on a specific country, be sure to also check what official statistical agencies exist within the government. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labour problems, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all.[1] 
The ISSP is a cross-national collaboration programme conducting annual surveys on diverse topics relevant to social sciences.
 
  • UNdata Explorer
    Compiles over 30 databases produced by United Nations Statistics and Population Divisions and other UN agencies under one interface. While time period and geographic coverage vary for each dataset, data are generally current and far-reaching—covering a broad range of international measures related to the UN’s mission to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations and promote social progress, better living standards and human rights.
  • UNESCO Data Centre
    The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) collects the data for more than 200 countries from Member States and international organizations.  Contains over 1,000 types of indicators and raw data on education, literacy, science and technology, culture and communication and allows users to download predefined tables or build their own. Summary data (profiles and global rankings) are also available.
  • World Health Organization
    The Global Health Observatory (GHO) is WHO's portal providing access to data and analysis for monitoring the global health situation. It provides critical data and analysis for key health themes, as well as direct access to the full database. The GHO presents data from all WHO program and provides links to supporting information.